With the loss the Bucs (4-11-0, 3-4-0 A-Sun) fall to 4-11-0 overall with a 3-4-0 (nine points) record in league action, while Mercer (6-6-3, 3-4-1) improved to 6-6-3 overall with a 3-4-1 (10 points) mark in the A-Sun.

ETSU opened the scoring as senior forward Jordan Monty (Mesquite, Texas), received a long over-the-top pass from the Buccaneer defense. From there the ETSU captain fired a hard shot off of Bear keeper Jean Worts that was deflected to sophomore forward Rachel Van Horn (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), who kicked home the rebound from 40 yards out for the matches' first goal in the sixth minute.

"Our defense did a great job seeing what set Mercer was in and was able to play the ball over to Jordan," said head coach Heather Henson. "From there Van did an outstanding job finding the rebound in the air from the first shot, while being aware of where the keeper was."

After taking its one goal advantage into the intermission, ETSU continued to lead midway through the second half, until Mercer all-conference sophomore midfielder Olivia Tucker tapped home her seventh goal of the season off of a long free kick from teammate Patricia-Anne Upson.

Mercer's equalizer wouldn't last long as Monty picked up her third point of the day with a tremendous goal over new Mercer keeper Cristina Gularte in 68th minute.

"It was good to see our team bounce back after Mercer tied the match in the second half," Henson said. "Jordan was able to take a pass and dribble down the right side, make two moves and fire an outstanding shot over the keepers head."

After Monty's fourth goal of the season, Mercer wouldn't give up as midfielder Kacie Hudson converted a long pass over diving sophomore Buc keeper Megan Masch (Virginia Beach, Va.), with two minutes left in regulation sending the match at 2-2 into overtime.

After neither team took advantage of the first overtime period, Mercer continued to pressure the ETSU defense in the second overtime frame. With only minutes remaining in the contest, Mercer pressed forward into its offensive zone firing two shots that were blocked by Masch. Unfortunately, for the Bucs, time wouldn't end fast enough as Bear junior forward Lauren Johnson tapped home the game-winner off of an initial shot by junior forward Sara Ellliot with four seconds left in the contest, giving Mercer a critical A-Sun victory.

"I'm proud of how our team fought today," said Henson. "Anytime you have a close match this late in the conference season, both teams are going to play hard to the very end. All our girls played with great effort this afternoon, I just hate that the ball didn't bounce our way today. Now we have to bounce back and try to win Sunday against a great Kennesaw State team."

Overall, Monty, along with Van Horn, led the ETSU offense two shots, while Masch pushed her saves total to 105 this season, with six stops on the day.

ETSU returns to action as it hosts league-leading Kennesaw State for a 2:30 p.m., contest Sunday. Before the match with the Owls the Bucs will honor its three senior players, defender Kia Kindell (Westchester, Ohio), midfielder Kim Jones (Springfield, Va.) and Monty.

For more information on the ETSU women's soccer team please visit www.ETSUBucs.com. Also you can follow daily post and updates on the official ETSU women's soccer team Twitter page at www.twitter.com/ETSUSoccer.